Simplemamahttp://onesimplemama.com
A Simple Catholic, Wife, & MamaSun, 16 Sep 2018 14:50:47 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.012655255Simplemamahttps://feedburner.google.comThe Church Healshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Simplemama/~3/OqVr70mAJEo/
http://onesimplemama.com/2018/09/the-church-heals/#respondSun, 16 Sep 2018 14:50:31 +0000http://onesimplemama.com/?p=10498I love being Catholic. I love the Catholic Church. I love the people of the Church, every single one. They, you, I – we are all part of the same body – the body of Christ.

The Body that became flesh so God could be “God is with us”. The Body that breathed, laughed, and wept with us. The Body that prayed, broke and multiplied food for us. The Body that touched our ugly, sinful, dysfunctional brokenness. The Body that died in our place, was wrapped in a cloth, and laid in a hollow cave for us.

The Body that rested in that tomb – pierced, dead, and alone.

But, on the third day, that Body healed, breathed, moved, and shone with glorious life again.

We are that Body, we are all the Body of Christ. Like Him, we have been pierced by our own – and by other members of the same Body’s – ugly, sinful, dysfunctional brokenness.

We are wrapped up in the cloth of our sins, hidden in our ugly brokenness in a lonely cave, wounded, alone, and yearning for one thing: LIFE.

Yet, in that quiet, lonely tomb, a miracle occurs: We, the Body of Christ, are healed. Our souls awake and gasp, hungrily inhaling fresh, pure air again. We rise, stand, and walk out of the cold, dark, lonely tomb and into the light of LIFE once again.

This, this is why I love the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is a tomb: a space for the broken, wounded, and spiritually dead members of the Body of Christ.

The Catholic Church is also an ark: a vessel of safety and protection for the precious members of the Body of Christ.

The Church is a womb: a quiet space where we we begin, form, develop and slowly mature, constantly nourished and nurtured by the placental Grace always available to us through the umbilical chord of the Sacraments.

From the womb, we are born out into the light of new life. From the ark, we leave the sanctuary from the storm out into a land of new beginnings. From the tomb, our wounds and brokenness are healed and we get up and walk out into the light of a reconciled and transfiguratedlife.

This is the Church. The Church I love, the resplendent Bride of Christ, the broken and healed people of God, my beloved brothers, my beloved sisters.

]]>http://onesimplemama.com/2018/09/the-church-heals/feed/010498http://onesimplemama.com/2018/09/the-church-heals/Emotional Self-Care Book Tour & Give-Awayhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Simplemama/~3/YPvJySf3DlE/
http://onesimplemama.com/2018/09/emotional-self-care-book-tour-give-away/#respondWed, 12 Sep 2018 10:30:17 +0000http://onesimplemama.com/?p=10490Speaking of soul-lifting books for moms, I am very excited to share another great book that’s not only soul-lifting but YOU-lifting.

When we aren’t our best selves, it shows…When you’re exhausted and overwhelmed, you simply can’t be the friend, family member, significant other, coworker, or boss that you want to be. Even worse, neglecting our well-eing makes it nearly impossible to live life as authentic Christians, because we aren’t caring for ourselves the way God calls us to…’love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt. 22:39, emphasis added.)

Julia’s work as a Licensed Professional Counselor gives her the gift of understanding how crucial self-care is for our whole health and how destructive it can be to ignore ourselves at the cost of our health and our relationships. This week, Julia’s hosting a blog-tour of It’s Ok to Start with YOU focusing on the following topics from her book: Physical Self-Care, Mental Self-Care, Emotional Self-Care (that’s me today!), and stay tuned for Relational Self-Care, and Spiritual Self-care Thursday and Friday.

Book Give-Away!

Also, before I get all comfortable with my emotions, Julia’s hosting a chance to win a copy of It’s Ok to Start with YOU! To enter, visit Julia’s Instagram blog tour post and comment with the new self-care practice you will try. Contest ends Friday, September 14th, 2018 and the winner will be chosen at random on Monday, September 17th, 2018.

Emotional Self-Care

When Julia invited me to participate in her blog tour and asked which topic I’d like to write about, I zoned in on the emotional self-care one because that seems to be where I’ve needed the most help.

I think most people can understand the obvious needs of our physical care and much attention is given to our spiritual self-care but there’s always been sort of a disconnect that leaves the emotional and mental health side out – like if we are just body and spirit with no mind. This quote from C.S. Lewis that Julia includes at the beginning of her “Managing Emotions” chapter perfectly describes this discrepancy:

Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.’

Wow, ain’t that the truth? It’s easy to pay attention to something bleeding or causing us physical pain but what about when we feel like we are bleeding from the inside? I have to admit that for the longest time, I was captive to my emotions. How I felt ruled the way I lived, how I acted with others, and how I made decisions. It’s really only been in the recent 3 – 5 years that I’ve begun learning how to really manage (not control) my emotions so they don’t manage (or control) me. Julia provides simple yet highly effective emotional self-care strategies:

Tips for Managing your Emotions

Julia walks you through how exactly to do all that because it’s easier said than done. Or maybe you feel like that all sounds too easy to have any real long-lasting affect on you. So why not try it and find out?

This week, or whenever you happen to come across this blog post, I invite you to join me in practicing those six self-care tips for your emotional well-being. This might mean you’ll have to actually pay attention to your emotions and look at them straight-on instead of trying to hide from them and that is OK. In fact, that’s exactly what you need to do first. I’ve discovered that it really is All in the Pause.

Out of everything I’ve done to better care for my emotional and mental health, learning to recognize and embrace the present moment has been my hardest challenge and my greatest aid in overcoming emotional and mental disorders.

My Emotional Self-Care Goals this Week:

This week, my goal is to devote at least one 10 – 20 minute block of time each day to my emotional self care. In that time, I’m going to either pray quietly and reflect on my emotions, work on “living in the moment”, practice deep breathing exercises, and go out and buy a new journal so I can get back to keeping a Gratitude journal because that helps me so much!

What about YOU? How do you feel about Self-Care? What are some tips you’ve learned that help you take time to Start with YOU?

I highly recommend getting Julia Hogan’s It’s Ok to Start with YOU and give yourself a chance to feel better – emotionally, mentally physically, spiritually, and relationally. Follow along with Julia’s blog tour through her website, Facebook, and be sure to enter her Instagram book-giveaway!

You can also check out her YouTube playlist to get a full week of self-care challenges.

I felt like I was soaring through the clouds over oceans of farmland, ripe and bursting with joyful fruit.

I had heard of this book a while ago and through the years since it’s release. I tried reading it a while back but it just wasn’t my time yet. And honestly, I struggled with knowing how to read her writing style.

Lately, I’ve been yearning to find peace in the now. So the subtitle, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are caught my attention and I decided to delve into it more. Also, I had a free credit on Audible and some extra time on a long car ride so it was really the “perfect” time to hear Ann’s words of gratitude and joy. Her words sang into my ears and danced through my soul, twirling me around and lifting me up in gratitude and thanksgiving for all the Good Good gives me. Her discovery and passionate and intense focus on the word “eucharisteo” inflamed my Catholic Eucharist-loving soul and has planted many thoughts of seed and contemplation on how Christ in the Eucharist and gratitude really are the answer. To everything. One Thousand Gifts is a love song about a wounded bird calling out to her creator and asking to heal her and help her fly again. If you’ve been limping around life feeling wounded and without joy, try this. It might be just what you need.

At CatholicMom.com, I wrote about a pair of lovely books that will surely encourage you and lift your mothering soul. Check out my article there for the expanded reviews, here are the summaries to give you an idea of why you’d probably love to read these!

If you feel like you are failing as a mom and or have ever felt like you are “not good enough,” gift yourself with Colleen’s book and listen to her encouraging words: You are good enough. The best part about Colleen’s book is you can read it on your own or invite your friends to read it together and use the discussion questions after each chapter for conversation starters.

If you’ve been struggling to measure up to the “perfect mother,” open up Kate’s book and let her words peel you open, squeeze the drive for perfection out of you, and show you the path to a more joy, more grace-filled way to live.

If you’ve read any books, blog posts, or listened to Jennifer Fulwiler’s radio show or podcast, you know this book is gonna be good.

As a writer and aspiring author, a wife, and mother of four, and now with a part-time job also, I really relate to and appreciate her words and experiences that she shared. Reading about her “behind-the-scenes” experience in her writing aspirations humbled me and reminded me that on the front of every book, is the author’s name. And that name belongs to a real person, with a real face, a real family, and a real and ordinary life like the rest of us. And we, the readers, really only see the “cover” but not all the time, stress, tears, and sleep deprivation that went into getting that book on the shelves.

Jennifer’s experiences she shared and her retrospective reflections helped me remember that we can only succeed in attaining our goals if we pursue them with JOY, with our family, and in humble service with God who gives us our talents.

Even if you’re not a writer or have dreams to write a book or host your own radio show one day, you’d probably still enjoy this book because you do have your own “beautiful dreams”. This isn’t a book that will tell you how to succeed and attain your career goals and raise your family at the same time. It’s more about learning how to see the talents God has given us and then listen to how He calls us to serve Him in this world with those talents. It’s about finding peace with where we are, what we are doing, where we live, and trusting that God does have a plan for us – a dream even – and together it can be “One Beautiful Dream”. (too corny?) And, she’s hilarious. You’ll laugh…out loud. I promise.

Around 5 a.m. wake-up (again) by the harsh jostling of the Pilot maneuvering over the trail road, if you want to call that a road. Girly giggles jump around the backseat, replacing their quiet snoring and open-mouth sleep.

]]>http://onesimplemama.com/2018/08/summiting-beauty/feed/010233http://onesimplemama.com/2018/08/summiting-beauty/Quick Takes – New Job, Cool Dating Movie, Autism help, Bathroom Redo, and Where I want to Live One dayhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Simplemama/~3/GIKidCy6L7I/
http://onesimplemama.com/2018/04/quick-takes-new-job-cool-dating-movie-autism-help-bathroom-redo-and-where-i-want-to-live-one-day/#respondSun, 15 Apr 2018 11:53:30 +0000http://onesimplemama.com/?p=10223What’s the best way to share a life update after a waaaayy too long blogging hiatus? With a Quick Takes post, of course!

(P.S. See blog title if you don’t want to read this whole thing.)

One: Last month I began working part-time with a non-profit organization – Pure and Simple Health Education, Inc! Pure and Simple seeks to build strong families by teaching youth and their families the importance of making healthy choices and abstaining from unhealthy ones – drugs, alcohol abuse, and sexual activity outside of marriage.

Two: So far, it’s going well! I can work at home or at the office, I’ve taken my kids with me – my five-year-old helped me sort papers last week. It’s been a really great blessing. And – I get to be a part of the “solution” for youth and families and our community. Win!

Three: On that subject, have you heard of this cool ONE-DAY movie event coming up Tuesday, April 17th? It’s called The Dating Project Movie and it’s playing in theatres nationwide this Tuesday only! I really hope they make a DVD or streaming available for it later because it looks like a great movie to have on hand.

Here’s the premise: Half of America is single. The way people seek and find love has radically changed. The hook-up, texting and social media culture have profoundly altered the dating landscape. Traditional dating has become “outdated,” yet men and women still seek meaningful relationships. People are frustrated in love, but does anyone really know how to connect in today’s virtual world?

THE DATING PROJECT is a new non-fiction film from executive producer Steve McEveety (The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart), produced by Paulist Productions, Mpower Pictures and Family Theater Productions that follows five single people ages 18-40 as they navigate beyond the hookup culture to traditional dating. Professor Kerry Cronin from Boston College is featured throughout as she teaches ad encourages her students to return to traditional dating. There is no script. There are no actors. These are real people trying to find love and happiness in an age of swiping left or right.

FOUR: I haven’t written about our autism journey for a while because well, see #1 above and family life is full and good. We began OT (occupational therapy – I feel smarter now that I finally know what OT is!) and I think that’s been very helpful. He and we have been learning about appropriate ways to respond instead of react in various situations. There’s a lot more I could say about it but for now I’ll just say that if you have a child who struggles with finding healthy, appropriate, and respectful ways to respond to annoying situations (or annoying siblings), look into what OT may have to offer.

FIVE: OT has been great for our son because it’s for him. He is the one who goes to the sessions and he is the one learning what he can do to help himself. But what about us – the parents? A friend suggested we look into Asperger Experts and, so far, it is the most helpful of all the resources we’ve found for parental support. Danny Raede, the founder, himself was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when he was twelve so he has and does live with it every.single.day. So he knows. I started out by watching his YouTube videos and knew this was exactly what my husband and I needed for us – to better understand the why so we could better understand the how to help. They’ve all been super helpful, especially this one – Walking on Eggshells,Walking On Eggshells, Child Emotionally Abusing Parents & Getting Exhausted.

SIX: Even with all the above going on, we’ve also been working on updating our master bathroom! We began ripping the carpet out of the bathroom – eww, carpet in bathroom right?! – back in November and then decided we should update the shower tile before laying the new floor down. Loooong story shorter, we finally got that started a couple weeks ago and the tile work should start this week. We’ve been without a shower for a couple weeks and so we have been sharing one shower for all six of us. I know, “First World Problems” but I’ll be incredibly grateful to have our shower back soon! Follow me on Instagram for more exciting bathroom updates! (You’re super excited, I can tell.)

SEVEN: Lastly, I have to take a moment just say that I really love the Microsoft lock screen images. They’re all so beautiful and truly make me pause before I log in and get sucked into the computer. Here’s this mornings – wherever it is, I’d like to live there!

]]>http://onesimplemama.com/2018/04/quick-takes-new-job-cool-dating-movie-autism-help-bathroom-redo-and-where-i-want-to-live-one-day/feed/010223http://onesimplemama.com/2018/04/quick-takes-new-job-cool-dating-movie-autism-help-bathroom-redo-and-where-i-want-to-live-one-day/It’s all in the Pausehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Simplemama/~3/r9hSWtsygo8/
http://onesimplemama.com/2018/02/its-all-in-the-pause/#respondThu, 01 Mar 2018 02:54:30 +0000http://onesimplemama.com/?p=10219Do you ever wonder what the great “secret” to finding more joy, peace, and time is?

The answer is all in the PAUSE.

The season of Lent calls us to dive deeper – deeper into our relationship with Jesus by focusing on his great and merciful love for us.

So Lent starts in two days! That means meatless Fridays (and Ash Wednesday) starts this week.

I used to panic about trying to come up with meatless dinners for Lenten Fridays. I was trying to make meatless dinners that were also fancy. Which is kinda besides the point of fasting and abstinence. Duh. Once I figured out I didn’t need to make anything super fancy and meatless, it wasn’t so hard. Actually, Lenten Fridays have become my favorite dinner days because it’s a great “excuse” to keep things super-duper simple.

Who says you can’t serve your family cereal or eggs and toast for dinner?

If, however, you’d like something a tad more exciting than breakfast for dinner, here’s a meatless recipe I shared last month at CatholicMom.com that’s super easy but looks a little fancy too. They’ll never know how hard you didn’t try.

Well, we missed her so much more than we thought we would – especially me. I had no idea just how much I had grown used to having Bella around and though I thought I’d be ok without a dog for a while, it didn’t take long before I caught “puppy fever”.

It started with “just looking” at puppy pictures…then my husband started sending me random cute puppy pictures. And then, we found ourselves talking about it together.

One day, I came into our room and caught my husband looking at something on his phone –

Cute puppy pictures.

I laughed because I’d been doing the same thing downstairs.

Long story short, soon we were stalking our local animal shelter’s adoptable animals page on their website. One day, my scrolling eye stopped on a new photo of a sweet lab puppy with fur so light it looked white. And then, somehow, I ended up at the animal shelter and decided to see what she was like – just out of curiosity, of course.

Well, that did it. Next thing I knew, there was a puppy in our backyard.

She was so pretty and soft – we called her Daisy.

We soon found out, however, that though she was pretty and soft and cute as can be – puppies are no easy task!

Thankfully it didn’t take too long to crate-train her so she only used the backyard as her “toilet”. But we weren’t quite prepared for the nibbling…

And the chewing…

Oh, my the chewing!!!

Here…

There…

Everywhere!! The kids soon learned to put their outside toys away unless they wanted them to become new chew toys for Daisy.

Apparently, all that chewing is exhausting…

Cute pictures aside, it hasn’t been a walk in the park owning and caring for a puppy. One reason I didn’t share about her until now is because there were many times within the last eight months when I wasn’t sure if we would keep her. Ask my poor patient friends who had to hear me ask for their prayers several times, always ending with, “I think this is really the end this time,” to then end up deciding to give her “one more chance”.

Luckily for Daisy, the kids loved her. One reason I decided to get another dog was for all of us to have a special companion but especially for our oldest son who struggles with anxiety/anger management – I hoped she could become a “therapy dog” of sorts for him.

At first, he wasn’t so sure about her – she was so hyper and he just didn’t know how to handle that. Then, over the summer, something magical happened and he “discovered” her and realized – “Hey, I like this dog!”

I started sending him outside to be with Daisy when he needed a break or was on the verge of a meltdown. He’d go out there and stroke her ears, the anxiety or anger melting out of him with each stroke. Now, the first thing he wants to do after we’re finished at school is “go see Daisy!” so he can stroke her ears and play with her.

She still likes to nibble on me, still chews everything! (Though not quite as much), still jumps up on us when she’s excited (which is all.the.time), still ignores me as much as my kids, still drives me and my husband a little stir-crazy. Ok, maybe a lot stir-crazy.

But, she’s also still cute, still soft, still loveable, still loves the kids (she never nibbles on them!), still wants to be with us wherever we are (she thinks she’s still a small puppy and tries sitting in my lap), and she still has a lot of growing and learning to do.

We “celebrated” her first birthday this week – I even went to the petstore and bought her some special treats. Yup, she has me. Hook, line and sinker.

Happy Sunday! Here’s an excerpt I’d like to share from my monthly contribution at CatholicMom.com about listening for and enJOYing God’s voice.

God calls us to sit in silence and listen for His Word when we’re trying to understand His Will for us … but if God rarely spells things out for us with a banner in the sky. If He doesn’t have a specific Will for every situation then what exactly are we listening for?

I asked this burning question to my confessor hoping for a lengthy answer that would tell me exactly what to do. The priest thought quietly for a moment and then gently offered this perfect answer:

A light and subtle breeze …

I loved his response, yet … I wanted to know more.

I’ve had that experience … but … what do I do with it? How do I interpret it?

Head on over to CatholicMom.com for the simple yet so perfect answer he gave me…